Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-22

Here am l."
looked round, but could see nobody.
fWhere?" I cried
Here l am, monsieur, in the tree"
looked, and there, peerlng out of hole
in the trunk Of the banyan about five feet
from the ground, [ saw pale face and o
pair of large mustachios, one clipped short
and the other as 1amentably out of curl as
the tail Of a newly whipped pug. Then,
for the first time, [ realized what I had
suspected before-namely, that AIphonse
was an arrant coward. I walked up to
him. "Come out of that hole" I said.
rs it finished, monsieur?" he asked,
anxiously, ''quite finished? All, the hor-
rors l have undergone, and the prayers
have utteredr'
Come out, you little SKUNK" I said.
for did not feel amiable, sit is all over"
$50, monsieur, then my prayers have
prevailed. I emerge" and he did.
AS we were walking down together to
join the others who were gathered in q
group by the wide entrance to the kraal,
which now resembled veritable charnel-
house, Nasal, who had escaped so far
and been hiding under BUSH suddenly
sprang up and charged furiously at u.s.
Off went Alphonse with howl Of terror,
and after him flew the Nasal bent upon
doing some execution before he died. He
soon overlook the poor little Frenchman,
and would have finished him then and
there had | not, just as Alphonse made
last agonized double in the vain hope of
avoiding the yard of steel that was
flashing in his immediate rear, managed
to plant bullet between the Elmoran's
broad shoulders, which brought matters
to a satisfactory conclusion as far as the
Frenchman was concerned. But just then
he tripped and fell flat, and the body of
the Nasal fell right on the top Of him,
moving convulsively in the death struggle.
ThereupOn there arose such series of
piercing bowls, that [ concluded that be-
fore he died the savage must have man
aged to skewer poor Alphonse. / ran up
in hurry and pulled the Nasal off, and
there beneath him lay Alphonse covered
With blood and jerking himself about like
a galvanized frog. Poor fellow! thought
/, he is done for; and kneeling down by
him | began to search for his wound as
well as his struggles would allow.
ooh, the hole in my backP' he yelled.
81 am murdered I am dead Oh, An
nette!
searched again but could seeno wound.
Then the truth daWned on me-the man
was frightened, not lurt
"Get up" l shouted, 'get up. Amt
you ashamed Of yourself? You are not
touched
Thereupon he rose, not q penny the
worse. But, monsieur. I thought | was"
he said, alphabetically; IT did not know
that had conquered" Then giving the
body Of the Nasal a kick, he calculated,
triumphantly, ''Ah, dog Of a black savage,
thou art dead; what a yictoryn'
Thoroughly Disguised, l left Alphonse to
look after himself, which he did by follow
ing me like a shadow, and proceeded to
join the others by the large entrance. The
first thing saw was Mackenzie, seated on
a stone with handkerchief twisted round
his thigh, from which he was bleeding
freely, having, indeed, received q spear
thrust that passed right through it, and
still holding in his hand his fayorite cary
ing-knife, now covered with blood and
bent nearly double, from which gathered
that he had been successful in his rough
and-tumble with the Elmoran.
'Ah, Quartermainr' he sung out in
trembling, excited voice, $50 we have con-
y y
and then, breaking into broad Scotch, and
glancing at the bent knife in his hand, at
greets me sair to haze bent my best carver
on the breast-bane of savage" and he
laughed Historically. Poor fellow, what
between his wound and the killing excite
ment, he had undergone, his nerves were
much shaken, and no wonder! 1t is hard
upon man of peace and kindly heart to
be called upon to join in such a gruesome
business. But fate puts us sometimes into
very ironical positions!
At the kraal entrance the scene was a
strange one. The slaughter was over, and
the wounded men had been put out of their
pain, for no quarter had been given. The
bush-closed entrance was trai1pled fat,
and in place of bushes it was filled with
the bodies of dead men. Dead men-every
where dead men-they lay about in knots.
they were flung by ones and twos in every
position upon the open spaces, for all the
world like the people on the grass in one
of the London parks on a particularly hot
Sunday in August The place was a per-
feet SHAMELESS, dyed red with blood. In
front of this entrance, on space which
had been cleared of the dead and of the
shields and spears which were scattered III
all directions as they had fallen or been
thrown from the hands of their owners,
stood and lay the survivors Of the awful
struggle, and at their feet were four
wounded men. We had gone into the
fight thirty strong, and Of the thirty but
fifteen remained alive, and five of them
Including Mr.. Mackenzie, were wounded,
two mortally. OF those who held the en-
trance, Curtis and the Zulu alone remain
ed. Good had lost five men, killed, I had
lost two, killed, and Mackenzie no less
than five out Of the six with him. AS for
the survivors, they were, with the eXcep-
ton OF myself, who had never come to close
quarters, red from head to foot-Sir Henry's
armor might have been painted that color
and utterly exhausted, except Umslopo-
gaas, who, as he stood on a little mound
above a heap Of dead. did not seem partic-
ularly distressed, although the skin over
the hole in his head palpitated violently.
"Ah, Macunazahn!'' he said to me as l
imped up, feeling very sick, 81 told thee
that it would be good fight, and it was.
Never have I seen a better or one more
hravplv f01pht A c for. this iron shirt STlrp-